OTTAWA, 23 December 1948

Discussed with Mr. Escott Reid, Acting Under-Secretary of State
for External Affairs, the Indonesian question following on my
interview with him two days ago. [1] When I questioned him as to
the possibility of seeing Mr. Pearson, he said that Mr. Pearson
was absolutely jammed up with a cabinet meeting and very urgent
interviews today, but that he (Mr. Reid) could give me the
Government's view because he had had discussions with Mr. Pearson
on the matter. He went on to say: 'The Canadian Government is as
disturbed as the Australian Government at the possible effect of
the shooting in East Asia and the only people who unfortunately
can gain by it are the Communists. We are supporting the "cease-
fire" portion of the resolution before the Security Council but we
feel that it would be most unwise to press things against the
Dutch too far. In the past, sanctions have not been imposed by the
Security Council on States such as the neighbours of Greece or
against other Soviet Satellites which have violated the Charter.

In the light of that very recent past, we feel that it would not
be appropriate to threaten sanctions against a State such as the
Netherlands, which, apart from this one episode, has been a
faithful member of the United Nations. We were disturbed to read
in the press that Australia might press for expulsion of the
Netherlands; we hope that that story is not correct.'